Wyethia. COMPOSITE. 267 



100. "WYETHIA, Nutt. (Nathaniel J. Wyeth, who collected the species 

 on which the genus was founded, and with whom Nuttall subsequently crossed 

 the continent.) — Stout and mostly low perennials (W. North- American) ; with 

 more or less balsamic or resiniferous juice, ample and undivided pinnately veined 

 alternate leaves (commonly entire), and large heads of mostly yellow flowers. 

 (Thick roots and seeds were food of the Indians.) — Jour. Acad. Phikd. vii. 38, 

 & Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. vii. 351 ; Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. viii. 654. Alargonia, 

 DC. Prodr. v. 537. 



* Rays from " pale yellow " or dull straw-color to white. — The original Wyethia, Nutt. 



W. helianthoides, Nutt. A span to a foot and a half high, simple and with a single 

 large head, or rarely 3 or 4, hirsute : leaves from oval to broadly lanceolate, denticulate or 

 entire, 4 to 8 inches long, mostly narrowed at base into a short margined petiole : heads an 

 inch high : bracts of the involucre narrowly lanceolate, numerous : rays nearly 2 inches long : 

 akenes 4 lines long, either prismatic-quadrangular or flattish, 12-nerved : pappus shorter 

 than the width of the akene, sometimes minute, ehaffy-coroniform and cleft into few or 

 several teeth. — Jour. Acad. Philad. 1. c. t. 5 ; Gray, 1. c — Northern Rocky Mountains, in 

 moist valleys, S. W. Montana to E. Oregon, Wyeth, Nevius, Cusich, Watson, Scribner. 



# # Kays bright yellow. — Alargonia, DC. (Dedicated to the memory of Hernando de Alarcon, 

 a noble Spanish navigator, who, in 1540, first visited and carefully surveyed the coast of Cali- 

 fornia.) 



-H- Involucre of the very large and broad heads foliaceous; the spreading outer bracts ovate or 

 oblong, commonly 2 inches or more in length, much surpassing the disk (which is of about equal 

 breadth) and often exceeding the rays : akenes very stout and thick, half-inch long, with com- 

 paratively obtuse angles, crowned with a large chaffy-coriaceous calyciform pappus, which is 

 cleft into unequal teeth or lobes : cauline leaves short-petioled. 



W. helenioid.es, Nutt. I. c. Very stout, 2 or 3 feet high, floccosely tomentose, glabrate 



in age : leaves oblong and ovate, mostly entire, radical a foot or two and upper cauline 



6 to 8 inches long: akenes pubescent toward the summit. — Gray, PI. Eendl. 82, Proc. Am. 



Acad. 1. c, & Bot. Calif, i. 349. Alarconia helenioides, DC. 1. c. — Hillsides around and 



near San Francisco Bay, California; first coll. by Douglas. 

 W. glabra, Gkay. A foot or two high, glabrous or nearly so, balsamic-viscid : leaves of 



the preceding in size and shape, or narrower, sometimes serrate : akenes glabrous. — Proc. 



Am. Acad. vi. 543, viii. 654, & Bot. Calif. 1. c. — W. California, from Marin Co. southward, 



Andrews, Brewer, &c. 



-t— •*— Involucre of the smaller heads (about inch or less high) narrower and fewer-flowered, 

 usually campanulate ; the outer bracts even when foliaceous seldom surpassing the disk : akenes 

 less thick, 3 to 5 lines long. 



++ Glabrous and smooth throughout, usually balsamic-viscid : leaves thickish, lanceolate to ob- 

 long, upper sessile, lower tapering into margined petioles : outer bracts of the narrowish invo- 

 lucre disposed to be foliaceous. 



W. amplexioatilis, Nutt. A foot or two high, robust : leaves mostly lanceolate-oblong, 

 entire or denticulate; radical often a foot or more long; upper cauline (a span or so long) 

 partly clasping by a rounded or somewhat narrowed base : heads solitary or several, short- 

 peduncled : involucral bracts broadly lanceolate, acute or obtuse, one or two outer ones 

 occasionally foliaceous and larger : rays inch and a half long : akenes with a conspicuous 

 crown cleft into acute teeth, and sometimes a small awn. — Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. I.e.; 

 Torr. & Gray, 1. c. Espeletia amplexicaulis, Nutt. Jour. Acad. Philad. vii. 38. Silphium ? 

 lasve, Hook. Lond. Jour. Bot. vi. 244. — Moist valleys and plains, Rocky Mountains from 

 Colorado to Montana, west to Nevada and Brit. Columbia. Pe-ik of the Indians. 



W. longicaulis, Gray. Nearly resembles preceding, taller, rather slender : leaves lanceo- 

 late, even uppermost with tapering base and not clasping : heads solitary or paniculate, on 

 long and slender peduncles : outer series of involucral bracts oblong or somewhat spatulate, 

 foliaceous, mostly surpassing the inner and the disk : rays only inch long : akenes with a 

 short erosely denticulate crown. — Proc. Am. Acad. xix. 4. — Prairies of E. Humboldt Co., 

 California, Rattan. 



